SHORT REPORT Interaction of prenatal ma

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleMaternal smoking during pregnancy Findings Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by airflow limitation and airway reactivity (AR) and exhibits wide het-erogeneity in disease susceptibly and phenotypes. Multiple genes, gene-gene and gene-environment interactions have been shown to play a role in determining susceptibility to asthma and associated phenotypes of lung function and AR. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for developing asthma in offspring [1] and can affect offspring lung function [2]. Interleukin-13 (IL-13) is a recognized effector in airway inflammation, reactivity and remodeling. IL13 is located on chromosome 5q31, and has been consistently associated with asthma [3,4]. Several functional genetic variants occur in IL13 including rs1800925 (−1112C/T) and rs20541 (R130Q, +2044A/G). Recent meta-analyses have shown that both SNPs are as